


All You Had to Do Was Ask

by posey11



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-10
Updated: 2014-09-10
Packaged: 2018-02-16 23:12:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2288060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/posey11/pseuds/posey11
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When things get a little complicated, Braeden pays a visit to an old friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All You Had to Do Was Ask

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'd, as always, so any mistakes are my own. I also used these two pictures as inspiration ([x](http://oi59.tinypic.com/4hz4k.jpg)) ([x](http://oi61.tinypic.com/28rnme.jpg))

 

The bar is as smoky and quiet as it's always been. There's a few patrons that seem to almost live there, and the old jukebox is still playing the same songs it's always played. It's feels a bit like coming home, coming back to the place she spent most of her life in, and she sees her longtime friend Tess busy working and tending to her customers. There's something comforting about seeing her again. Perhaps it's that she has known Tess since Braeden was fourteen and considers her as a sort of mother figure.

“What do you have for a dead tired traveler?” Braeden says when she gets close enough to the old counter.

Upon hearing her voice, she looks up at Braeden and her face immediately brightens. She takes off the old dishrag on her shoulder and comes out to greet her properly. Tess wraps her up in her arms and squeezes her hard. Braeden had to admit that she really did miss this.

As quick as the love and affection came, it was quickly gone. Tess gives her a quick, sharp smack on the side of the head. “How could you not call? It's been three fucking weeks!”

“I'm sorry,” Braeden winces and rubs her head, “I've been busy with work.”

Tess sighs and smiles reluctantly, kissing her forehead, “Let me get you a drink.”

Braeden looks for their usual table, the one hidden in the back corner of the bar, and she intimidates the two men sitting there until they gather their things and relocate to a different table. Tess makes her way to Braeden with a bottle of tequila and a couple of shot glasses in her hands.

“What brings you back here, baby?” Tess asks as she pours two shots.

“I wanted to see you,” she says.

“Bull fuckin' shit,” Tess grins and they clink their shot glasses before gulping them down.

“What? You don't believe I just wanted to visit?”

Tess smirks and shakes her head. “I've known you since you were a kid, so I'd like to think I know you a little better than that. Plus,” she points at her in an accusing manner, “you never come to see me unless you need something or are in some kind of trouble, and when it comes to you, those two tend to overlap most of the time.”

Braeden laughs because it's true. She can't ever lie to Tess. “Well, that's part of it. I really did miss you,” Braeden says and takes another shot.

Tess raises an eyebrow. “But?”

Braeden sighs, and decides to get on with it. It's the reason why she went to see her. “There's this guy.”

“Lord have mercy,” Tess mumbles and downs a shot.

Braeden's feeling the alcohol beginning to warm her up, loosening her tongue. “Everything was going great, then all of a sudden, it... wasn't.”

She hands Braeden yet another shot and scoffs, “This is nothing new. Men will always fuck you up, baby. What's this one called?”

“Derek Hale,” Braeden replies as she rotates the shot glass between her thumb and fingers.

“Hale? Like, _the_ Hales?” Tess asks her.

Braeden looks puzzled. “Yeah. You know of them?”

Tess sighs. “They're an old, prestigious werewolf family. How could I not?” She yells at a young woman with long braids drying glasses behind the counter, “Lola, we're gonna need another bottle!”

A few hours and many shots later, Braeden has loosened up and relaxed. “I was over at his place so goddamn much it was like were living together. Like, this guy is so...” Braeden is at a loss for words, but she smiles.

“They all are, baby,” she says, nowhere near as drunk as Braeden. No one could hold their liquor like Tess could.

She shakes her head, “No, you don't get it, Tess. It's different. He's nice and fucking gorgeous and has a huge cock, and like, the best part,” she leans in and drops her voice down to a whisper, “is that he's _so_ good at sex. It's that werewolf stamina.” Braeden raises her eyebrows suggestively and laughs, which is very contagious that Tess can't help but chuckle.

“So, if everything was so good, why are you here?”

Braeden thinks for a moment. “He's like... constipated,” she snickers. “Word constipated.” As Tess is about to speak, Braeden cuts her off. “Like, I told him my job there was done and he didn't say anything. And, I mean, I wasn't asking for much. All he had to do was tell me to stay. That's all he had to d-do. How fucking hard is it to say, 'Hey, don't leave me'?”

Braeden can feel the tears coming (she blames it on the tequila), so Tess holds her hand, soothingly rubbing her thumb across the back of her hand. She has a look on her face that makes her look like the scared fourteen year old Tess met so many years ago and it makes her angry. No one would ever hurt her kids and get away with it. Right now she was glad Derek was far away because she had a few wolfsbane bullets with his name written all over them.

“How about I take you back to wherever you're staying? Sound good?” Tess smiles.

“But-” Braeden looks around the bar.

Tess waves her hand in a dismissive manner. “Don't worry about it. Lola can close up for me.”

She pulls Braeden up from her chair and leads her out of the bar and into her truck. Braeden gives her the name of the motel she's staying at in Beacon Hills, which makes Tess question how she got as far as she did without her motorcycle. When she answers honestly (hitchhiking), Tess feels like she could snap, but decides against a tirade, as a drunk never really listens. Yes, even though she knows Braeden is a mercenary, hitchhiking is Tess' number one fear. She had seen way too many of the usual runaways that came through her bar perish or turn up missing because they thought hitchhiking was a viable option.

The drive back to the motel takes a few hours, just enough for Braeden to get her emotions in check and sober up.

She breaks the silence once they're a few minutes away from her motel. “So, what are you gonna do about the Hale boy?” Tess asks her.

Braeden rubs her eyes with the heels of her hands. “Honestly, Tess, I don't know. We haven't spoken since I left his place yesterday morning.”

“But do you think he's worth pursuing?”

She scoffs, “You're gonna think I'm some sort of lovesick idiot, but, yeah he's worth it.”

Tess sees her smile out of the corner of her eye. “Oh, girl,” she sighs. “You're head over heels.”

 

 

The clock reads 5:02 A.M. by the time Tess pulls into the motel parking lot.

“B, this place looks like the red light district,” Tess jokes when she sees how the motel is lit up.

Braeden laughs. “Yeah, but it's cheap and they don't ask questions.”

She parks in the vacant spot next to Braeden's broken down motorcycle. Tess asks her if she needs help with the repairs and that she knows a guy, but Braeden declines. When Tess pulls Braeden into another crushing hug, she tells her, “Don't be a stranger, baby. You're always welcome to come home no matter what.”

Then, without warning, Tess reaches for the gun she keeps beneath the driver's seat. Braeden is taken aback for a moment until she looks out the window and sees Derek standing outside her door.

“Tess, that's Derek. It's okay.”

“Jesus, tell him not to stand around like that. He looks like a goddamn stalker,” she breathes a sigh of relief and puts her gun down. “Want me to stick around?”

“No, _mom_. It's fine,” Braeden teases her.

Tess laughs and gives her a quick shove. “Alright, smartass. Call me soon, okay?”

She kisses her cheek, gets out, and waits until Tess pulls out of the parking lot and can no longer see her blue truck. “How'd you even find me? Wait, have you been _waiting_ for me?” Braeden says while fishing for the key in her jacket pocket.

“Your scent and yes,” Derek says.

Braeden raises her eyebrows. “Well, I bet you're glad to be back to normal. That nose is better than a bloodhound's.”

“Wait,” he says as she's about to walk inside. “Come back home with me.”

“Really? Now? I just wanna get some sleep before I head out.”

“You're really leaving? When?” He asks and he looks almost disappointed.

“In a few hours. I mean, there's nothing keeping me here,” Braeden shrugs.

He opens his mouth and closes it a few times, obviously searching for the right words. “I-I'm here. I want you here.”

She's not sure if it's the lingering alcohol in her system making her do this, but at the moment, that was enough for her. In a split second, she's grabbing his face, crashing her lips down onto his. It's frantic and sloppy, but she doesn't care; he doesn't either. Between kisses she whispers, “You should have asked me to stay yesterday. All you had to do was ask.”

She stops and caresses his face, his familiar stubble scratching at her palms. Braeden grabs him by the collar and pulls him into her room, kicking the door closed behind her.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you all enjoyed it! :D


End file.
